The field of the invention is cable reels.
Reels have long been the primary means of shipping cables of various types. A difficulty exists regarding protecting connectors at the end of the cable, fiber optic cable in particular. This problem is due to large, heavy connectors at the end of tiny, relatively fragile optical fibers. The typical prior art method is to spool the cable on a large enough reel to accommodate both cable and connectors. This solution creates wasted space, however, on larger and heavier than desired reels. Another solution is to construct the reel with a butterfly flange which splits the hub area into two areas, one for cable and one for the connectorized cable end. This method is an expensive solution which accommodates one connectorized end only.
Many jobs now require kits; in addition to a cable with connectors, the kit includes any hardware that is necessary for installation on the job site all shipped together in one package. Shipping installation hardware adds another element of complexity to the protection and packaging of assemblies. One solution is to use a corrugated carton configured to accommodate all things needed on site: the cable, connectors, and the hardware. These boxes tend to take up extra space and lack the ease of handling of cable reels which can be rolled.
Several reel designs have been used in the past to allow for multiple hubs on one reel axis for storage of additional loops of cable. Hill, in British patent specification 954,245, disclosed a cable reel having multiple concentric hubs for the storage of electric cables having terminal ends or wire ropes having sockets at their ends. Another reel was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,939, having a common inventor with this application; this patent discloses a fiber optic cable on a reel having multiple hubs. However, the multiple hubs in the prior art reel determined annular spaces between successive hubs for disposal of additional loops of cable. These annular spaces are not sufficient for the storage of installation hardware or the larger hardware items attached to modern assemblies such as boxes to be installed beneath computer room floors. Stoquelet, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,086, disclosed a cable reel having dismountable end flanges and a central tube of co-equal diameter with the flange central aperture on which to support a reel supporting spindle.